Vaccination coverage among school children aged 14-15 years in the French department of Sarthe.

OBJECTIVES: Vaccinations are the main pillar of primary prevention for infectious diseases. To guide and prioritize public health interventions, the Regional Health Agency has asked the Prevention, Vaccination, and Screening Center of the Sarthe department to assess vaccination coverage (VC) at the sub-departmental level. The main objective was to measure the VC among school children aged 14-15 years in Sarthe at the sub-departmental level.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a VC evaluation survey at the administrative district level among school children aged 14-15 years in the Sarthe department during the first quarter of the 2015-2016 school year.

RESULTS: Among 2384 randomly selected school children, 1171 were included in the study. At the departmental level, 85% of children were up to date for DTP, 72% for pertussis, 45% for hepatitis B, 31% for meningococcus C, 93% for measles, and 18% of girls had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine. Vaccination coverage varied by administrative districts.

CONCLUSION: At the departmental level, all VC were below national goals. Territorial disparities could be explained by sociodemographic differences or differences in medical practices. This survey allowed us to identify areas and population groups where the CV rate justified public health actions.